Does anyone else have good luck with other interesting combinations? My Abbadon/Kharn/Land Raider was potent but left the rest of my army somewhat lacking. And there are so many cool models to use! Maybe 6th edition will help fire up the current benchwarmers?

One doesn't need Abaddon to be awesome. Kharn + dudes in a raider is more than sufficient to destroy...anything, really.

"Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealously, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence. In other words, it is war, minus the shooting." - George Orwell

I hadn't thought of it like that, but you may be right. I have no plague marines and only 4 oblits, but 2 lash princes. I think Havocs, lesser daemons and CSM are not usually seen and Termies and Chosen can be hit or miss.

I know this has worked in the past but something more crazy which I have seen include:

- three 5-man chosen with lots of meltas and icons
- four 5-man csm with icons
- 40-60 lesser daemons summoned in off the icons

- 20 thousand sons as a brick unit and msu units around it

- 20 raptors with 2 jump pack Lords. I saw it as one unit, but it would be better to split that up to get more special weapons.
- lesser daemons galore

I think the chaos codex can compete if one of two things happened to the current book.

1) An across the board 15% cut in points for everything not an upgrade or wargear/weapons

or

2) Taking a Chaos Lord opens up Chosen to troops. (I like this one best)

If you want plasma guns on a CSM squad, then Chubs is right and Plague Marines do it better. However you could take 4 plasma guns in a CSM Havoc squad. Mount them in a rhino to increase their threat radius.